Architecture And Decoration In Florence.

be provided with ifcs altar—a superb specimen of pietra dura work , prepared in the Government establishment , or Ofjhelna ., founded by Cosmo I . This altar ' s pallium was sent to London for the Great Exhibition . Though there is no disposition to venerate the memory of the Medici in the Florence of the present , it is proposed to raise the only monument wanting to the series of

reigning dukes , that to fche last of his dynasty , in this celebrated chapel , and to supply with their colossal bronze statues the rest of these mausolea , only two of ivhich are yet so adorned , by the sculptures , namely , of Tacca and Giovanni di Bologna . The columns and statuettes , entirely of piatra dnra , or rock crystal , for the altar destinedunder the Medicis , to haA'e stood here , are IIOAV

, dispersed among the contents of the cabinet of gems at the TTffizi , in the centre of which now stands uncovered the table from the glazed cases on which were stolen the entire contents , 200 objects , mostly personal ornaments , not one since recovered , though a heap of shapeless gold fragments was found in possession of the robber , and

three artizans of the lower class have been convicted for the crime . Since that spoliation only two works by Benvenuto Cellini have been preserved in this collection , small vases of jasper and crystal adorned with the coiling figures of fantastic serpents in enamelled gold . Much alarm was excited , on the night of the 26 th , by a fire which broke out in the cellars under the Uffizi ,

imprudently appropriated for a deposit of hay , which ignited , it seems , spontaneously , and could not be quite extinguished for two days . As these cellars are ample vaults entirely of stone , the danger could not have been great ; but much energy was exerted to put out a conflagration in alarming proximity to the greatest treasures of art .

For the honour of Florence we should add that a statue of Dante , by Pazzi , already exhibited and much admired , has been commissioned , and certainly Avill be erected , after a time , on the Piazza S . Maria Novella . It presents the poet in a severe and indignant mood , but with the character of power we look for in such a subject—perhaps the finest sculpture treatment , of this subject yet produced . —Builder .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

SYJIBOMSM AND HJEEJIASONRY . The relationship in which symbolism stands ivith regard to Freemasonry has been defined as follows . Who was ifcs author ?—Ex . Ex . " As a speculative order , Freemasonry is pre-eminently distinguished for the cultivation which it has given to the science of symholisma science which once pervaded the ancient world

, and was closely connected with all the religion and poetry of antiquity . Whatever may he the contending opinions on the subject of the historical origin of Freemasonry , no one , who has attentively investigated the subject , can , for a moment , douht that it is indebted for its peculiar mode of inculcating its principles to the -same spirit of symbolic science ivhich gave rise to the sacred language of the Egyptian priests , and the sublime

initiations of the Pagan philosophers . For all the mysteries of the ancient world , whether they were the Druidical rites of Britain , or the Cahric worship of Samotteracea , whether celebrated on the banks of the Ganges or the Nile , ancl contained so much of the internal spirit and the outward form of pure and speculative Masonry as to demonstrate the certainty of a common origin to all .

" This science of symbolism , once so universally diffused as to have jiervaded all these ancient religions , and even still extensively controlling , almost without our recognition , the everyday business of life , has , as a science , been only preserved in the Masonic instittttution ; and hence , to this fact are we indebted for much of the facility with which we are enabled to understand , and the certainty ivith which we are beginning to interpret the esoteric philosophy of the ancients . Egypt , for instance , has been to all of us as a sealed volume , bufc now that

its pages are beginning to be unrolled by the industrious researches of our archaeologists , none so well as a Mason can appreciate the hieroglyphic aud symbolic teachings which are inscribed on ifcs obelisks , its temples , and ifcs sarcophagi . " Ifc was , indeed , there , among that ancient priesthood of the East and of Egypt , that this beautiful science of symbolism was first invented , by which sensible objects being presented to the eye , conveyed through its pinciples lessons of profound , yet

hidden wisdom , to the neophyte . Divine truth was thus communicated by the priests in the most impressive forms hy means of poetic images , and the philosophers , borrowing the same system , instructed their disciples by myths and allegories . But the ancient priests and the old philosophers have passed away , and their method of concealing wisdom under the veil of tropes and figures would have been almost irretrievably lost , had not Freemasonry perpetuated the system and preserved the science ,

while cultivating the same hallowed objects by the same beautiful method of referring all material things to an intellectual sense ; so that its most expressive definition has always been that it is a science of morality , veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . " Performing , then , its mission of preserving and perpetuating the science of symbolism , it is evident that , as a scientific institution , it must embrace within the extensive grasp of its study , a vast range amid the divisions of human knowledge . The archaeology of all the ancient religions , their origin , their connections ivith , and their deviation from the true faith as taught

to Noah and the patriarchs who preceded him , the ingenious , though sometimes fanciful cabalistic learning of the Jewish doctors , the Pythagorean science of numbers , tbe mystical ancl sublime philosopy of Plato and other sages of Greece , and the rites and ceremonies of all the ancient world , with their just in-r terpretation , constitute legitimate subjects of discussion and inquiry for the Masonic student , and I do not hesitate to say , that the scholar who should devote himself to the perusal and

study of the numerous works on Freemasonry alone , which have issued from the English , the French , and German press . The Americans would , hy such an intellectual discipline , acquire a more extensive and more varied mass of historical , scientific , and philosophical knowledge , than the cultivation of any other single science or department of learning could supply . Viewing then , Masonry iu this , ifcs great intellectual mission , may I not be permitted for a moment to pause in my inquiry , and to

invitethe brethren who surround me to partake of the mental feast which has been prepared for them , ancl in ivhich , as its disciples , they alone are permitted to share . There stands the majestic tree before yon , its ancient roots penetrating deeply into the soil of time , aud its leaves and branches covering with their mighty shadow , all the pure and good of every clime and country who will come beneath them . Will you ingloriottsly recline beneath that wide spread shade , or helplessly lean for support upon its massive and venerable trunk , nor make one effort to pluck the luscious and life-giving fruit ivhich hang in tempting clusters from its boughs ?

AMERICA }! TiIASOXIC DISCLOSURES . A writer in America offers the following remarks on the disclosures which are said to have been made by American Masons . The extract is Avorthy of being widely circulated by your "Notes and Queries . "—Ex . Ex . " Within the last half century scores of books have heen written and published , purporting to contain the true secrets of

Masonry . Morgan , Miller , and Stone , have shed their light upon the world , hut the curious have found themselves just asnear attaining their object , after reading all they have written ,, as they were when they began . They have found that the hallowed penetralia of our Order are not accessible to any but the true and accepted Mason , who comes in at the right door . AVhy wonder , then , of the disappointment and bitter imprecations of those dupesor of viciousdisappointedor rejected

, , , members of the institution , who , very innocently wishing to line their pockets Avith a little of the needful , proclaim to the world ,, that they are about to publish the genuine secrets of Masonry .. The publications are sought after , and read with avidity by the credulous , who , after all their expenses and toil , still find the door of the Masons' retreat closed against them . We should not ivonder that they turn away , and in the bitterness of their

disappointment , declare a ivar of extermination against an institution ivhich has proved inaccessible to them . But if , on the other hand , the secrets of Masonry have been disclosed , why don't the prying ones take the books , learn , if they can , the-